'The way we live' in home ruined by runoff from camp

Wednesday

Jul 31, 2013 at 2:00 AM

WOODRIDGE — Through the doorway overhung with a stained-glass plaque that says "Bless This Home" and past the rebuilt kitchen, Vladimir Loos opens file after file of pictures and videos documenting a nightmare.

Leonard Sparks

WOODRIDGE — Through the doorway overhung with a stained-glass plaque that says "Bless This Home" and past the rebuilt kitchen, Vladimir Loos opens file after file of pictures and videos documenting a nightmare.

Photos show red-tinged stormwater inundating the Roosevelt Avenue property he shares with his wife, Regina Loos, in eastern Sullivan County. A video shows him waist-deep in a trench to install drainage pipes as a barrier against sheets of water attacking his home's foundation.

Cahill found the congregation liable for damaging flooding and runoff caused when it cleared trees to build a large parking lot for its summer camp just across Loos' property line.

For the Loos, however, the damage is permanent. One side of the house they moved to in 1995 is sinking. The foundation is pulling away from walls, doors no longer close and floors tilt.

"They have power," Vladimir Loos said of the camp. "That's why the village did nothing."

Menorah built its parking lot between 2000 and 2002. During a two-day trial before Cahill, camp manager Abraham Tabak told the court the work began with without any permits or plans, and that the congregation never used an engineer or architect.

The congregation also filled in a brook that once caught runoff and fed it into a lake on Menorah's land before it reached his property, Vladimir Loos and his wife said.

"Nothing was done legally," Vladimir Loos said.

Flooding became serious around 2002. That year, heavy, reddish water began invading their property from the parking lot, which Menorah topped with red shale. At one point, the Loos used four pumps to clear 4 inches of water from their basement.

Both Vladimir and Regina Loos recounted the damages on Tuesday.

The kitchen collapsed, destroying custom maple cabinets built by Vladimir Loos. A massive ceiling hole in one room is due to roof damage from the sinking. And water is also destroying a bungalow the Loos rented out. The bungalow has been condemned, but not the house, Vladimir Loos said.

Regina Loos, who has Stage 4 lymphoma, wears a face mask to protect her from the dust generated by the heavy use of the parking lot during camp season. The house will eventually collapse, taking with it wood molding, doors and shelves made by Vladimir Loos, she said.

"This was his dream — to have a house," Regina Loos said. "We worked so hard."